Himachal bypoll result: Counting of votes for all the four seats began this morning (File)
New Delhi:
BJP is facing defeat out of two By-elections in three assembly seats of Himachal Pradesh Last week, as well, a by-election for the single Lok Sabha seat is also due.
These bypolls are being seen as a litmus test for the BJP government led by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, especially since the state will go to full assembly elections next year.
The BJP launched a high-profile election campaign in the past weeks, with Chief Minister and Union Minister Anurag Thakur among those speaking at its rallies and events.
The lead is going on between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in Mandi Lok Sabha seat. The BJP has fielded Kargil war hero Brigadier (retired) Khushal Chand Thakur and Congress Pratibha Singh, wife of six-time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
At 12.25 pm, Pratibha Singh got 3.46 lakh votes against Chand Thakur’s 3.38 lakh.
The Mandi seat was earlier with the BJP and the by-polls began after the death of MP Ram Swaroop Sharma in March. In 2019, the Congress had lost this seat by more than four lakh votes.
According to the Election Commission website, BJP’s Baldev Thakur is leading in the race for Fatehpur assembly seat, where 12 out of 24 rounds of counting have been completed.
Congress has fielded Bhawani Singh Pathania from here.
Fatehpur has been a Congress stronghold for more than a decade. The need for by-polls here was necessitated by the death of party MLA and former minister Sujan Singh Pathania, who passed away in February.
Meanwhile, Congress is leading in Arki assembly seat, where Sanjay Awasthi has a big lead over BJP’s Ratan Singh Pal. So far 12 out of 26 rounds of counting have been completed.
The need for by-election here was due to the death of veteran Congress leader Virbhadra Singh.
The Congress is also ahead in the race for the Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly seat, where Rohit Thakur has made a strong lead over independent candidate Chetan Singh Bragta, who made a strong start.
BJP’s Neelam Saraik is poor and at number three.
The bypoll to this seat (known as the ‘apple stronghold of Himachal Pradesh’) was held because sitting BJP MLA Narinder Bragta died in June.
Bypolls were held last week to three Lok Sabha seats (the other two in Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and 29 assembly constituencies.
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